Ranger Archive
Thread: A rookie Hunter wants to know if resource harvesting droids are worth it?
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DarthMarksman
Fri Aug 06, 2004 9:06 pm
#1
Wondering whether to buy a resources droid to gather my meat and hide and bonewhen I'm hunting because I understand it's a 20% increase in efficiency, but i'm thinking of the upkeep. Is it expensive?
JBMat
Sat Aug 07, 2004 4:46 am
#2
Depends
What combat class are you? Riflepeoples like the droid, as it runs in to harvest, after it is told and targeted, letting the rifleperson lay in concealment. Yeah, they don't have to get up and harvest.
Pistols and melee don't seem to care, as they are in range to harvest most of the time.
Personally, I feel they are a waste, and any possible gain in extra harvest is offset by the droid's cost, maintenance and PITA factor (think pain....) as you're continually having to control the lil numbnutz thing. I have 2 killer droids. With a fighter, I drop lairs quicker. time being money, less time = more money. Instead of having the droid run around like a crazed chicken, I kill/harvest/collect my creds and get on with the next mission.. My droid is on follow, a one word command has him shoot at what I am, what is simpler?
JB
Cohen001
Sat Aug 07, 2004 4:48 am
#3
upkeep on droids is peanuts. I bought 1 crate of batterys that each have 4 charges and im still on my 3rd battery. The droid is usefull if you are a ranged combat proffession otherwise its easyer to harvest urself if u are a close combat char.
Vorpaks
Sat Aug 07, 2004 9:05 am
#4
I like them, but I have pets to tank for me. If I didn't have pets I would use the combat droid over the harvesting droid.
ShyGirl
Sat Aug 07, 2004 9:21 am
#5
Read this DarthMarksman,
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=57644#M57644
/rangerBow2
Springbok
Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:37 am
#6
rifles = yes, if you get the hang of it.
brawler, close combat (pistols) = no. the harvesting increase is offset by the speed at which you can run around doing it yourself, then moving on.*
*-exception to the rule. Tough fighting and only one or two or three in group. I did find (as a TKM) that my droid was beneficial while killing rancors with two others, only in that I could harvest with droid and not have to run around a pile of 8 rancors trying to find the 2 buried ones i missed =P.
Direpath
Sun Aug 08, 2004 3:20 am
#7
Not to many of the things I kill for resource orders live long. This makes the droid too slow for me. I am a rifleman.
Talus Herb meat for example. I can lay out two huf duns before my droid gets to the first corpse. If they were set to automatically harvest X resource from every corpse you have access to, it would be more useful to me.
Ducimus
Sun Aug 08, 2004 10:46 am
#9
Droids are definatly worth it when:
-Your a rifleman
-The droids harvesting skill is greater than your own.
Droids are VERY handy when:
- You kill a mob thats more than 15 meters out into water. (send in the droid to harvest)
- Your a ranged character and the lair your working on has aggressive creatures in or close by. (send in the droid to harvest as it doesnt generate argo)
But if your harvest skill is high, (master scout / ranger) droids aren't worth it due to the loss in organics. Time is money, and you want as many organics as you can without loss.
-Your a rifleman
-The droids harvesting skill is greater than your own.
Droids are VERY handy when:
- You kill a mob thats more than 15 meters out into water. (send in the droid to harvest)
- Your a ranged character and the lair your working on has aggressive creatures in or close by. (send in the droid to harvest as it doesnt generate argo)
But if your harvest skill is high, (master scout / ranger) droids aren't worth it due to the loss in organics. Time is money, and you want as many organics as you can without loss.
DaveG
Sun Aug 08, 2004 8:15 pm
#10
I'm going to hit master ranger tomorrow, so I'll see if I still want to use my driod or not, but I expect I will out of the convenience. The above (green) points are still my concerns which go unanswered (at least convincingly) on the debate though.
Owen-Lars wrote:
Some say its worth it if you are a rifleman, well that prety much total pants. As a rifleman/woman with some decent armour on you can tank most if not all the high level mobs (not krayts etc just high level mobs) and there is no need to stay at massive ranges.
Yeah but why waste your armour and build up battle fatigue unnecessarily?
Also as a rifleman/woman once you have got used to hunting and got your technique down to a 'T' You will kill faster than those damn things can harvest.
A much better and faster aproach is to use a harvest macro on a east to reach key/button. Simply spam it on each target once they are dead and you will harvest them all within seconds, no run times or call delays, just fast and easy kills and super fast harvesting.
If you are shooting atlong range though (and if you're a MRM why wouldn't you?), you are also going to waste time running backwards and forwards, between harvesting range and sniping rage. The droid can do the running while you do the shooting.
Odajja
Sun Aug 08, 2004 10:23 pm
#11
Rifle + droid= more harvest less agro.
Now i have 1probe harvester with storage/1probe trapper/2probe combat/ 1 r3 harvester
prob droid seems faster. R3 i use for flat terrain or less collideable scenery.
heres the trick. get postition to fire target your prey tell droid to follow taket in spatial i use "ft" when the Target hits half if a tough target ill hit ebter droid will make way to the animal and by the time it gets there ready to harvest. once i see the harvest is done i use Stay cmd. not i havealready started ti tab to next target by this time and it about gone so ill get harvest ready. "h" droid goes to work and im falling next target. real easy just have to multi task it all. 3k avian in 30 mins 2 lairs and 2 spawns. 600k pay off 2 batteries (I do not let it get below 40%).
just a word of warning. DONT GROUP WITH YOUR DROID!!! they dont like it. also personality chips are a waste of money. If i want to talk to someone i use guild chat. ts about the same.
Owen-Lars
Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:25 am
#12
Droids are fecking worthless mate unless:
A: You suck at hunting ATM (low level or simply a poor hunter)
B: You are getting 'experienced' in hunting (leveling)
C: You like to take your hunting slow (RP perhaps or maybe dont like fast paced action)
Anything else and you will find they are worthless piles of junk.
Some say its worth it if you are a rifleman, well that prety much total pants. As a rifleman/woman with some decent armour on you can tank most if not all the high level mobs (not krayts etc just high level mobs) and there is no need to stay at massive ranges.
Also as a rifleman/woman once you have got used to hunting and got your technique down to a 'T' You will kill faster than those damn things can harvest.
A much better and faster aproach is to use a harvest macro on a east to reach key/button. Simply spam it on each target once they are dead and you will harvest them all within seconds, no run times or call delays, just fast and easy kills and super fast harvesting.
Makon
Mon Aug 09, 2004 7:15 am
#13
Harvesting Droids are great. It is not very hard to multitask a harvest droid and fight at the same time. Just bind a key with a macro that has "/tellpet h;", "h" being your harvest command. It works over long range and is faster than giving the command in spatial. My harvest droid and a +109 Harvesting boost, which means that it harvests 9% more than what I harvest. I've read that some people have ones with a 17%+ boost! Throw in some +30 harvesting Veghash and Ranger harvesting skills and you have one hell of a harvest increase. For those of you who are "too fast" for a droid because you can't multitask well, I guess you're too good for the extra money, too. When you're getting 30 CPU from Rancor meat and the like, even just 9% can be enough to send your kids to college.
The droids only run away when attacked. The simple solution to this is to keep them away from creatures that do area attacks, like Bull Rancors. In other types of missions, like Voritor Hunter missions on Dantooine, I have the droid "Follow Target" the lair and he hides there until something dies.
The droids only run away when attacked. The simple solution to this is to keep them away from creatures that do area attacks, like Bull Rancors. In other types of missions, like Voritor Hunter missions on Dantooine, I have the droid "Follow Target" the lair and he hides there until something dies.
Message Edited by Makon on 08-09-2004 10:18 AM
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